14 May 2008 - Climate
change is destroying vital polar bear habitat,
putting the species at risk of extinction,
the US government said today as it listed
the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA).
The government’s decision
clearly indicates that climate change impacts
are already threatening the survivability
of animals and habitats, and illustrates
the urgency of preparing for and adapting
to a rapidly changing climate.
“WWF commends the Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) for heeding the
unequivocal science that the survival of
the polar bear is inextricably tied to its
Arctic sea ice habitat, which is melting
more rapidly than at any other time in recorded
human history,” said Margaret Williams,
managing director of WWF’s office in Alaska.
“We must take the necessary
measures now to help save the polar bear.
The ESA listing is an important first step,
but we must also address the underlying
cause of climate change: rapidly rising
greenhouse gas emissions.”
A victory, but concerns
remain
“Today’s decision is
a tremendous victory for one of the world’s
most iconic and charismatic animals,” said
Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF-US.
“The other big winner today is sound science,
which has clearly trumped politics, providing
polar bears a new lease on life.”
Roberts added, “While
we applaud today’s announcement, many concerns
remain. The 360-page document comes with
numerous caveats which we have yet to fully
analyse. Interior secretary Dirk Kempthorne
was quite explicit in saying, for example,
that continued energy production in Alaska
remains a priority.
"WWF strongly disagrees
with that position and recently became a
plaintiff in the litigation challenging
the Chukchi lease-sale—a priority area for
WWF and home to one of our nation’s two
polar bear populations," he said.
Sea ice melting
Sea ice, which polar
bears depend on for hunting seals and other
prey, melted to record low levels last summer.
The National Snow Ice and Data Centre announced
earlier this month that current measurements
and projections indicate that the 2008 melt
season may also be “extreme”, possibly shattering
the record set in 2007. Some scientists
have predicted that the summer Arctic sea
ice could be gone entirely as early as 2013.
The decision comes close
on the heels of a new WWF report, Arctic
Climate Impact Science – An Update Since
ACIA, which found that change is occurring
in all arctic systems, impacting on the
atmosphere and oceans, sea ice and ice sheets,
snow and permafrost, as well as species
and populations, food webs, ecosystems and
human societies.
Melting of arctic sea
ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet was found
to be severely accelerated, prompting some
scientists to discuss whether both may be
close to their “tipping point” (the point
where, because of climate change, natural
systems may experience sudden, rapid and
possibly irreversible change).
At the time of publication,
Dr Martin Sommerkorn, one of the report’s
authors and Senior Climate Change Adviser
at WWF International’s Arctic Programme,
said: “The magnitude of the physical and
ecological changes in the Arctic creates
an unprecedented challenge for governments,
the corporate sector, community leaders
and conservationists to create the conditions
under which arctic natural systems have
the best chance to adapt.”
He also stated the importance
of urgently addressing the underlying causes
of these changes: “We need to reduce global
emissions of greenhouse gases to levels
that will avoid the continued warming of
the Arctic and the anticipated resulting
disruption of the global climate system,”
he said.
A positive step
Today’s decision, however,
represents a positive step toward creating
conditions under which polar bears inhabiting
arctic ecoregions in the US, at least, can
better adapt to the physical and ecological
challenges they are facing.
“Based on the best available
science, if current sea ice trends continue,
two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will
be lost by 2050,” said Geoffrey York, coordinator
of WWF’s Polar Bear Conservation Program.
"The threatened species designation
will now provide additional legal protections
for the bears, including the conservation
of critical habitat and the development
of a government-supported recovery plan.”
Citing the well-documented
loss of sea ice due to climate change, the
FWS recommended in September 2006 that the
Interior Department list polar bears as
threatened under the ESA. The Interior Department
was legally required to issue a formal decision
on the ESA listing by January 9, 2008, but
failed to do so. On April 28, the US District
Court for the Northern District of California
ordered the Department to issue a formal
decision on the listing by May 15.
Overdue announcement
“Today’s announcement
is long overdue,” said Williams. “The delay
in listing has opened the door to accelerated
oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. In
February, the Minerals Management Service
(MMS), which is under the jurisdiction of
the Interior Department, auctioned off almost
30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat
in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea for oil and gas
exploration.”
WWF condemns the US
decision in February to open the Chukchi
Sea to petroleum development;
arctic marine conditions contribute to an
oil spill "response gap" that
threatens polar bears by effectively limiting
the ability to clean up after an oil spill.
WWF is part of a coalition
of Alaska native and conservation organisations
that filed suit in the federal district
court in Alaska, arguing that MMS did not
adequately weigh the impacts of oil and
gas activities on indigenous communities
and wildlife along Alaska’s North Slope.
“We should be taking
every action possible to reduce stresses
on polar bears, and we believe that oil
and gas activities pose formidable risks
to the Arctic sea ice ecosystem and the
polar bears that inhabit it,” said York.
Background information
* On April 28, 2008,
a US District Court ordered the US Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) to issue a decision
by 2:00 pm on May 15 on whether to list
the polar bear under the Endangered Species
Act.
* In February 2008,
the Minerals Management Service opened nearly
30 million acres of prime polar habitat
to oil and gas exploration.
* In January 2008, the
US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a
delay in listing the polar bear under the
Endangered Species Act.
* In December 2007, NASA scientist Dr H
Jay Zwally forecasted a total lack of summer
sea ice as early as 2012.
* In September 2007, following the news
that all records for summer sea ice minimum
had been broken, the US Geological Survey
released a detailed report concluding that
the loss of sea ice will likely lead to
localized extinctions of polar bears, with
as much of a two-thirds population decline
worldwide.
* In June 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change confirmed that warming
of the world’s climate systems is “unequivocal”
and pointed to human activities, such as
the 70 percent increase of global heat trapping
gases in the last three decades, as a leading
cause of the changes.
* On December 26, 2006 the Service released
a proposal for the listing. Since then,
numerous reports have documented the extensive
global change due to rising temperatures.
